Sex and Campus Comedy

Posted by on January 11, 2008 
Filed Under In the news

What do college students find funny? Apparently, sex. At least that’s the impression you get from last month’s New Jersey Comedy Festival, which gets a spotlight in today’s issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education.

About 20 students from colleges across New Jersey participated in the event, and sex figured into a lot of the acts. Students joked about their bodies, about the stigma of being a virgin in college, about nude models in an art class, and about spending their days “banging” their mates instead of going to class.

But according to the Chronicle, the most common jokes were about something that’s not a laughing matter: rape.

The competition’s most popular topic was, believe it or not, rape. The first comic told two rape jokes. Another said he could never be a rapist because he likes to sleep after sex. Yet another said he would call his victim the next morning because he’s such a nice guy.

Er, ha.

Later one of the competitors began his act by promising the audience that he wouldn’t tell any rape jokes. He broke that promise two minutes later with a one-liner about using “ropes and formaldehyde” to solve his romantic problems.

Ha again.

The women in the competition (there were five) mostly steered clear of forced-sexual-intercourse humor, though one did sing a ditty about not wanting to be raped.

What do you make of all the rape jokes? Is that fair game for campus comedy, or does joking about rape minimize the suffering endured by victims of sexual violence? What does it say that most of the rape jokes were made by men, rather than women?

Comments

8 Responses to “Sex and Campus Comedy”

  1. Keri on January 11th, 2008 4:12 pm

    I feel that rape is not a laughing matter. Many women, some men too, have been through this and to joke around about it is rather disrespectful. However, I feel that it is more common for men to joke around about it because they don’t see it as a threat. More men enjoy random, casual sex. Women are often the victim in situations like this.

  2. zach on January 12th, 2008 6:18 pm

    I think the jokes are pretty funny.

  3. Giselle on January 12th, 2008 10:23 pm

    I find that the sexual experiences of college students are often common ground for student comedians just because of the familiarity it evokes within the audience. However, when rape is made light of…I am disgusted. Now don’t get me wrong, a dirty joke cracks me up any day…but not when it involves a matter that should in no way be considered humorous.

  4. quickf3d2600 on January 13th, 2008 2:30 pm

    Many comedians, in fact most of them, have joked about many matters at hand which otherwise are not nearly a laughing matter. It is a comedians job to take things that are happening in society today as lightly as possible in order to entertain and alleviate the tension (i.e. comedians joking about terrorism right after 9/11/2001, about bush, rape, cultural and ethnic differences, ect.).
    In no way should this be looked down upon because often enough, the views of these comedians are not reflected in their jokes, and it should not be taken seriously, hence the laughter. Take it as a Shakespearean comic relief.

  5. Bryan Williams on January 14th, 2008 10:00 pm

    Many comedians speak on subjects that a lot of people in general wouldn’t speak about.Rape is among those lines. Unless you have been raped or someone close to you has been a victim of rape, you just might take it for a joke. (no pun intended)

  6. Lance Gravlee on January 15th, 2008 11:48 am

    One interesting aspect of your comments so far is the apparent gender gap. Keri and Giselle, whom I assume are women, see jokes about rape as “disrespectful” or “disgusting.” Bryan and Zach think comedians’ job is to push the boundaries and make light of situations that others wouldn’t talk about. Doesn’t this gender gap expose the same power dynamic between men and women that are manifest in most acts of sexual violence? As Keri suggests, men are more likely to joke about rape, because they don’t see it as a threat.

  7. andy on January 24th, 2008 9:42 pm

    With the right context, approach, and set-up, you can joke about almost anything, including rape. We accept rape jokes in mainstream prime tv, just think how many prison sex “drop the soap” jokes get made without any trouble.

  8. john on August 14th, 2008 7:00 am

    Rape is no laughing matter…..